The 27 January 2018 took place in Varese the 5 ° National Convention on vintage boats, organized annually by the Vele d'Epoca Verbano Association. Participation exceeding expectations has imposed the early closure of registrations. Some wooden boats were also exhibited at the Palace Grand Hotel in Varese, a prestigious congress venue. Among the announcements of the 2018 the reopening of the Museum of the Lariana Boat of Pianello Lario and the adventurous circumnavigation of Italy of the schooner Oloferne en route to the French Maritime Festival of Sète. Among the books presented a volume on the restoration and one dedicated to the Genoese rowing racing gozzetti.
THE NUMBERS OF THE 5 ° CONVENTION OF VINTAGE BOATS
Over 150 participants from Italy and Switzerland, 10 speakers, 6 hours dedicated to relations, 4 official sponsorships (Italian Yacht Club, Italian Vele d'Epoca Association, Vintage and Classic Hulls Association, Italian Derive d'Epoca Association), 3 announcements of new initiatives in the marine sector, 3 boats on display (the Ernesto Riva electric wooden launch, a 12 'Dinghy and a Breton launch), one of photographs of vintage sails by photographer James Taylor, 8 magnificent sponsors (Jaguar Land Rover international car showroom in Varese and Castellanza, AQA Lago Maggiore, Cromatura Cassanese, Porrini Moda Besozzo, Studio GIALLO & Co. Varese, Gioielleria Soma Besozzo, 3 Sixty Marketing Services, Funivie del Lago Maggiore), a dedicated stamp cancellation , over 130 publications in the national press and media and more than 100.000 people reached on social networks in the pre and post-event period. These are the numbers of the fifth edition of the conference of vintage boats 'Between Wood and Water' held on 27 January 2018 at the Palace Grand Hotel in Varese. Another great success for AVEV, Associazione Vele d'Epoca Verbano, which confirms itself as one of the most active Italian associations in the sector of promoting seafaring culture and nautical traditions.
THE RELATIONS ... OF THE MORNING
The works of the 5th Conference 'Between Wood and Water' were opened by the AVEV President, Alessandro Corti from Varese and by the local historian Giuseppe Armocida. Following Paolo Sivelli, AVEV Director, moderator of the interventions. The sailor and racer Giuseppe La Scala spoke of aesthetic restoration and functional restructuring, referring in particular to two classes of boats on which he sails, the Dinghy 12 'class drift, designed in 1913, and the one-design Dragone, born in 1929. Historians Giovanni Panella and the French Thierry Pons projected Aventure Pluriel's video on the experience of an Erasmus plus course held for a week at the Maritime Museum in Cesenatico. The Florentine Roberto Olivieri, Councilor of the Vele Storiche Viareggio Association, described the refitting of the Bermudian yawl Barbara, a yawl launched by Camper & Nicholsons in 1923 whose return to sea will take place on 19 May 2018 at the Del Carlo shipyard in Viareggio. On that day, anyone who wishes, will be able to attend the launching ceremony. The shipbuilder Daniele Riva and the engineer Carlo Bertorello described the project of 'Ernesto', the first wooden electric boat born from the pencil of the famous Argentine architect German 'Mani' Frers, "present" at the conference in the form of a video interview.
THE RELATIONS ... OF THE AFTERNOON
The Italian Stefano Medas, an underwater archaeologist and appreciated lecturer, seduced the audience by telling the soul of the boats, as if they had been equated to living beings in the past. The yacht designer Leonardo Bortolami, curator of the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Edinburgh, presented a preview of his new book "Wooden boats - the conscious restoration" with all the suggestions on the recovery of vintage boats.
The master of the ax Giovanni Cammarano of Marina di Pisciotta, in the province of Salerno, has enchanted the audience telling the life of the fishermen and the construction of Ninetta, replica of a wooden goiter in Latin sail along 7,75 meters, performed together with another young master of the ax, Cesare Cortale. Lastly, the shipbuilder and shipbuilder Federico Lenardon described the restoration of Onkel Adolph, the 6 Metri International Tire of the 1907 winner of the first regatta of this class, and the Austrian transport launch Poto of 1920, carried out at the 'Alto Adriatico Custom' shipyard. of Monfalcone where he works.
SOME NEWS OF THE 2018
Here are some of the novelties presented during the convention:
- After about 18 years of closure, the Lariana Boat Museum of Pianello Lario, founded in 1982 inside a nineteenth-century spinning mill on the shores of Lake Como, will reopen a part of the rooms for public visits. The museum collects more than 400 boats of all types and thousands of objects.
- The Museo Navigante project was presented, a network made up of 70 sea and seafaring museums united in a common project to enhance the Italian maritime cultural heritage. It is linked to the journey of about 1800 miles that the 23 meters Aurochs Oloferne of the 1944 is making from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian Sea, with stops in all the coastal regions, to get to Sète, in France. Here, from 27 March to 2 April 2018 will take place Escale à Sète, the most important Mediterranean Maritime Festival where 130 will converge between sailing ships and historical hulls and more than 300.000 visitors. Both the schooner Oloferne and a large delegation of the Vele d'Epoca Verbano Association, with boats in tow, will represent Italy and national museums.
- The Genoese historian Giovanni Panella has published a book entitled "Gozzetti Genovesi, story of a passion" dedicated to racing rowing gozzi. Often these boats, representing villages and associations linked to the sea, challenge each other on the occasion of events and events organized in various regions of Italy.
Thanks to the collaboration with the Jaguar Land Rover International Autosalone of Varese and Castellanza it was possible to organize some test-drives on board the Jaguar Land Rover cars displayed at the entrance of the Hotel, including E-PACE, the new compact SUV. The dealership has also drawn a weekend, during which a lucky winner can "own" a car for two days.
MORE
AVEV - Vele d'Epoca Verbano Association was established in the spring of 2013 with the aim of promoting and protecting the historic boats that sail on Lake Maggiore. Numerous initiatives have been organized to date, from the "Verbano Classic Regatta" to the project of a museum-collection of the traditional boats of Lake Maggiore, from the rebirth of the "Coppa dei Laghi", a historic sailing trophy dating back to 1887, to the itinerant navigation called "Vagabondi" of the lake". In the 2016 they were the first Italian delegation to have accepted the invitation to participate, with 5 boats representing the Italian navy, at the Maritime Festival of Brest, the most important in the world. Participation in the Week of the Gulf of Morbihan (France) and Stari Grad (Croatia) followed. At the construction site in Cellina (VA), the partners are restoring Tinka, a wooden Bermudian cutter along 10 meters built in England in 1951. The current AVEV president is Alessandro Corti from Varese.